A Qualitative Study Of English Given Names Adopted By Chinese College Students From Cognitive Perspective

The author has found that there exist a considerable number of research articles on English names,such as the composition and origin of English names,the study of Chinese translation of English names,the influence of English names on English teaching,cultural differences between Chinese and Western characters and crosscultural comparison of English names and others.Nevertheless,few articles refer to metaphorical meaning embodied in English given names from a cognitive perspective,which is regarded as the innovation point of this research.Taking Conceptual Metaphor Theory as theoretical foundation and guidance,this study aims to analyze cognitive factors affecting Chinese college students’ choice of English given names and figure out the problems as well as provide solutions in choosing names.The research subjects involve undergraduates in a Double First-Class university in Northeast China.The study data comes from 166 undergraduate students in three classes of non-English majors.The author utilizes questionnaire to find out what English given names students want to choose for themselves and the reason for their choices.This thesis adopts literature research method,text analysis method,introspection and questionnaire.After collecting the corpus to form textual material,all of the texts are classified and sorted according to word class.Next,the author analyzes and concludes the corpus from the perspective of cognition and sets out to answer the following two questions:(1)What cognitive factors are reflected when Chinese college students choose English given names?(2)What are the problems with Chinese college students’ English given names,and how to avoid this phenomenon?The author divides textual material of English given names taken by college students into three categories according to word class: individual nouns,abstract nouns and proper nouns,analyzing the cognitive process of each type of nouns separately.The results are as follows: In analyzing individual nouns,signifier,signified and conceptual metaphors deeply penetrate cognitive process.The signifier of given name is stable,while the signified is dynamic,constantly evolving,developing and corresponding to cognitive experience of the person.Metaphors link “signifier” and “signified” together.It can be concluded that metaphor embodies the interrelationship between “signifier”and “signified” in audio image and concept.Metaphorical meaning is not the basic meaning of the original signified,but its abstract associative meaning.The concepts of animals,plants,food,mountains,rivers,rocks,the moon and stars in individual nouns,as familiar source domains,are mapped into abstract target domain “people” by metaphorical mechanism.Their semantic and conceptual structures are transferred from one conceptual domain to another,thus giving metaphorical meaning to these individual nouns when used as given names.Besides,cognitive process of abstract nouns is inseparable from conceptual metaphors.The metaphorical mechanism in the process of abstract nouns is essentially the transformation from “abstract” abstract nouns to“concrete” abstract nouns.In many cases,abstract nouns undergo attribute transfer,often used to denote people with certain qualities or attributes.Through the analysis of proper nouns,the author has perceived that culture affects language perception.Under the influence of English cultural background,some college students admire heroes and worship idols,which is deeply reflected in choosing English given names.They tend to employ the name of person they respect to name themselves,such as the same name as hero and star or the character in the literary work,reflecting cultural attribute of language.However,the author has found that when choosing English given names,Chinese college students inadvertently make some mistakes that go against communication.Some people choose English given names simply based on a specific word they prefer,causing misunderstanding on account of ignoring cultural difference.In addition,some people misuse surnames for given names.To work out the above problems,the author provides two suggestions: maintaining consistency in sound and meaning and cultivating cross-cultural awareness.In short,this research possesses some practical significances.On the one hand,studying the meaning of English given names based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory can reveal cognitive mechanism of language phenomena and further provide a new cognitive perspective on the relationship between language and thinking.In addition,understanding metaphorical meaning of English given names can significantly improve college students’ cognitive abilities.On the other hand,English given name is an essential part of the English language and culture.As people who learn English as a foreign language,Chinese students can further understand the ins and outs of English given names and metaphorical meanings to broaden horizons,deepen understanding of English language and culture so as to promote English learning as well as cross-cultural communication.